The Digital Fix: Television

Spoiler-Free Advance Review: Series 10, Episode 1

For one last series, Spooks is back. As I covered in my tear-stained eulogy a few weeks ago, this is a heart-breaking loss for fans of silly yet bloodthirsty drama series that take themselves amusingly seriously. Still, hopefully they’ll go out in a blaze of glory.

I was lucky enough to get a look at the first episode, so I’ll be casting my critical eye over it now. Fair warning: I won’t be including any heavy spoilers, but if you want go in pure and virginal, stop reading now. If you’re interested in my broad opinion, it was a promising start. You can read the rest later.

Now, for those of you who don’t care about your viewing experience: as I suspected from the PR shots, this final series of Spooks seems to be The Sir Harry Pearce Show so far. His Spyship has certainly earned it over the last decade, although I’m a little bemused by the decision to replace the opening credits with a Ruth/Harry fan video from YouTube.

This new year is also bad news for fans of male eye candy, as for the first time there isn’t a good looking lead male spy to angst over everything, not to mention the entire male cast now seem to have the same haircut. New spies Lara Pulver and Geoffrey Streatfeild are decent as Erin and Callum, Erin in particular has an interesting angle that Spooks hasn’t done for a while, but I miss having that gravitas in the field.

Oh, and Sophia Myles’s Beth is given a one-line write-out, which is appropriate considering she was a one-storyline character. Shame though, Myles would’ve been a good actress to keep around.

The episode itself is mostly set-up for what looks like a story-arc focused final series. I won’t go into details, but you won’t be shocked to hear it’s pretty Harry-centric. There’s potentially cool material there for the future, and the story this week hits all the usual Spooks sweet spots (spit-screen surveillance sequence, intense moments, all Americans are bastards).

A decent beginning, then. A shame we only get six episodes of MI5 goodness, but hopefully that means the story arc won’t meander like it did last year. Chip in below and let us know your hopes, fears and (once the thing has actually aired) whether you liked the episode!

Last updated: 01/05/2018 16:48:38

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